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I'd call it 'The Spiders from Mars', but that's not what I came here to say.

Wainwright must be broken. His collapse has been so total, I don't see any alternative. His BABIP is up, but his K/BB rate has also fallen through the floor. Both could be a result of injury. And he's losing to the Pirates right now.

It's not just today. He's allowing an OPS against of .724 this month (before today's game), which isn't very good anymore. (Worse than average, according to sOPS+ on b-ref.) It's the dramatic change from earlier in the year that is worrying. A 5.29 ERA in the past 28 days, and today's outing only helped that a little.

In the M's/Rangers game, Choice just barely checks his swing on a pitch that hits him on the hand. This is a perfect example of the umpire's unwillingness to call the HBP correctly.

The only possible options they considered were 'swing/strikeout' and 'checked swing/HBP.' Except there's another perfectly viable option: don't call it a HBP since the guy literally stuck his hand in the way of the pitch.

I don't think he is an exceptionally mentally tough pitcher, say, like a Chris Carpenter.

I think he's a smart, nice guy, but as soon as he starts to think on the mound he's in trouble. With Yadi, he didn't have to think.

He's been crappy ever since the All Star Game, when he wilted after thinking about how best to confront Derek Jeter. It's been downhill ever since---during the rest of the game, during the in-game interview with Erin Andrews, and in his seven or so subsequent starts.

Gah--I had a bad feeling about Rizzo, and wasn't that reassured by Renteria saying he'd be in the lineup unless something strange happens. Back tightness working itself out in a day would BE "something strange happening." Hope it's not serious.

I'll miss the beginning of this one, but hope to catch a couple Soler ABs. And hopefully Turner'll still be in there when I show up.

The Nats @ Phillies are delayed even beyond the revised 19:35 first pitch as the ceremony honoring the Taney, PA Little League team ran a little long. Ian Desmond reportedly high-fived each young player as they shuffled past.

It's Doug Fister vs. Kyle Kendrick, he of the 9.69 ERA in the first inning. So I predict the Nats will go 1-2-3 on 7 pitches in the 1st.

David Ortiz in the 4th inning gets the first hit today off Marcus Stroman. He gives Adam Lind's crazy goatee a little tug as he settles into first base.
Bautista's HR has the Jays up 1-0 vs Joe Kelly, that's five seasons in a row for Jose with 25 HR.

I like that Jose Abreu has gone from Mark McGwire to Frank Thomas over the span of 2 months. He's hitting like 340/430/550 since June. The homers have slowed but my god the doubles, singles and walks are coming in bunches. Just a pure hitter.

The thing is, Baez takes a lot of pitches for a guy who strikes out as much as he does. His problems now are a combination of overswinging, on pretty much every single swing, and not being able to guess/time offspeed stuff.

The thing is, Baez takes a lot of pitches for a guy who strikes out as much as he does.

I keep repeating this but going deep into counts just to go deep into counts isn't a sound strategy for anyone but the most elite hitters. If you're a mere mortal, non Trout, Cabrera, Abreu etc -- you need to look for your pitch and hit it.

The Mets have had a lot of really good defensive centerfielders over the last decade. Cameron, Beltran, Chavez, and Pagan. Lagares is better than those guys except for the possible exception of Chavez.

I'm really glad that he's hitting enough that he looks like the CFer of the future.

Doug Fister has been slipping in recent starts. He worked a 4-2 lead to start the 6th, then gave up a some hits to make it 4-3, then a 2-run tater to Grady Sizemore to make it 5-4 Phils. Then on the next pitch he hit Ben Revere in the right biceps which really must have stung him, Fister motioned his apologies to Revere, and effectively-blind HP ump Dan Iassogna issued warnings to both dugouts.

Iassogna has had a wide strike zone for Kendrick and an inexplicable zone for Fister, with an especially generous K zone for Bryce Harper. Best home plate umpire in the park, I guess.

You know, this is going to sound crazy, but I had no idea Kauffman Stadium had become so ugly. I stopped having the Yankees on cable around 2009 and somehow I never noticed that they ruined one of the prettiest parks in baseball. Why?

This is the most exciting cubs team to watch in years. I wish Bryant would be called up in september.

The fan in me agrees about Bryant, but I understand the service time silliness, and if they buy another year of team control by bringing him up on 4/20/15 rather than 9/1/14, that's cool with me. But yeah--it's really exciting to see this flood of young talent coming on board. Tonight's game was about as much fun as a loss can be (and if not for the defensive bedshitting, it might've been a win).